Jan 15

Modified Bike Championship blasting off in Portland opener

The Australian Modified Bike championship will see its fierce racing rivalries return when the opening round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series takes off this weekend in Portland, Victoria.

The Modified Bike championship went down to the wire last year, with David Carroll breaking through for his maiden national crown – fending off serious competition from Edgell Mallis, Joe Khoury and Shane Walker.

Carroll, heading to Fuchs South Coast Raceway next weekend, says he hasn’t made any changes to his winning Kawasaki and is looking forward to getting down to business.

“There have been no changes to my bike as yet, it's currently being pulled down and everything checked ready for the start of the season,” Carroll said.

“South Coast Raceway is a fantastic track, very flat and sticky and the locals put in such a great effort to make the whole event happen and look after everyone who makes the journey down to their great little 1/8 mile track.”

Carroll, though, is certainly not keen to just sit still in the category.

“This season will be a struggle for us, last season took a lot out of us financially, but we have a lot of plans down the track,” he said.

“I have been talking a lot with my mechanic, who is a very experienced and highly respected race engineer and team manager.

“So stay tuned hopefully the next season or two will bring a few challenges, a few changes, a few surprises and all the excitement that drag racing can bring.”

Carroll, however, isn’t alone in his future planning with fellow competitor Rob Cassar building a bike school to provide lessons for keen students.

The project will officially launch at a later date but for now Cassar’s new bike will be in action this weekend.

“I have a two bike team this year with ex Pro Stock Motorcycle Racer Cal Godeassi running my new school bike,” Cassar said.

“Cal will be riding the Suzuki GSX 1200 and I will be riding the old Z900. It should be a good season, we went to Portland on January 3 and ran 5.80, we had a blast.”

“I will be running Mod Bike at this meeting and will be running the Comp Bike the rest of the season.”

The qualifying action commences from 11am on Saturday, with eliminations starting from 10am on Sunday.

For more information, head to the event website:

http://www.southcoastraceway.com/documents/sportsmanchamps.html